Man-Animal Conflict: Teasing Wild Elephants Costs Assam Man His Life
Man-Animal Conflict: Teasing Wild Elephants Costs Assam Man His Life
Nioy Bhattacherjee, News 18
July 27, 2021
Pascal Munda of Morongi tea estate at Numaligarh in Upper Assam pays a high
price for allegedly teasing wild elephants. On Sunday evening, tea garden
workers came face to face with a herd of wild elephants crossing the
National Highway 39.
As can be seen from the images, the workers and passers-by attempted to
chase the animals, despite the fact that only a few of them had previously
approached the pachyderms.
One of the herd members became enraged by the constant baiting and teasing
and pursued the people. Pascal fell while attempting to flee the chasing
elephant and was stomped by the enraged animal. He was pronounced dead at
Golaghat Civil Hospital.
Dr Kushal Sharma, a well-known elephant expert, conveyed his condolences to
the grieving family.
No Backing Down? Man-elephant Conflict in Assam Leads to Colossal Loss of
Lives
The truth behind the occurrence, however, must be probed to see whether he
was truly heading home after a long day’s work or if he was one of those
people who was provoking the elephant herd. Herd elephants are generally
harmless, until one becomes overly adventurous with them.
During the last 10 years, at least 812 people have died in Assam due to
human-elephant conflict, Environment and Forests Minister Parimal
Suklabaidya, who informed state parliament on Wednesday.
At 115, Udalguri district had the most deaths followed by Sonitpur with
103, Goalpara with 74, and Darrang with 51 deaths, according to the
minister in response to a query from BJP MLA Terash Gowala. The remaining
deaths were reported from a number of different districts.
According to Suklabaidya, the state administration has taken a number of
steps to reduce human-animal conflict.
He said that one of the solutions is the development of a committee that
informs the railways, power and forest departments about the movement of
animals in critical areas.
In order to address elephant-human conflict, local officials have been
urged to organise volunteer organisations that may work together to prevent
animal damage.
According to him, the World Wild Fund (WWF) has been hired to train the
Village Defense Party (VDP) on how to reduce human-elephant conflict.
To prevent the violence, Anti-Depredation Squads have been established in
each district with each squad receiving the necessary equipment to deal
with the problem.
Suklabaidya said that financial funds have been approved for the
construction of watchtowers equipped with night vision systems.